Leigh High School Newspaper

Preview: 2018 Winter Olympics

The 2018 Winter Olympics will be held from Feb. 9-25 in PyeongChang, South Korea. Over 90 nations will be competing in 15 different sports ranging from curling to snowboarding. The United States is sure to have a lot of success at the game with about 240 athletes competing.

The United States currently has the second most gold medals and overall medals in the Winter games behind only Norway. There are many stand out athletes attending the games in February who are likely to leave their mark.

Mikaela Shiffrin is one of those athletes. Only 22 years old, Shiffrin has won multiple gold medals for alpine skiing and gold in slalom the world championship in 2017 at St. Mortiz. This will be Shiffrin’s second appearance at the Olympic games and she is hoping, as all athletes are, to bring home the gold for her country. Shiffrin has been going through a rough patch recently and hasn’t completed her last two races.

“I can see it in my mind, and the streak is coming to an end,” said Shiffrin in an interview with ABC.

Shiffrin is someone to be sure to watch and she will be competing from Feb. 14-24.

Another athlete that will be exciting to watch is Nathan Chen. Mr. Chen is only 18 years old and is already a National Champion in figure skating. Not only is he a National Champion but he is also the youngest U.S. male skater to win the Grand Prix of Figure Skating final and the first skater to land five quadruple jumps in a free skate.

“It’s crazy how fast time flies and how things progress. I’m super blessed to have the opportunity to compete at these events and prove that I deserve an open spot in 2018,” said Mr. Chen in an interview with “Los Angeles Times”.

With so much passion and talent Mr. Chen is no doubt going to succeed in this years olympics and represent his country very well.

Another athlete that will be fun to watch is Karen Chen. Ms. Chen is a figure skater who was born and raised only a couple miles away in Fremont. At the 2018 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Ms. Chen placed fourth overall in the free skate. Ms. Chen was in a close race during the qualifiers with figure skater Ashley Wagner but pulled out on top and gets the opportunity to represent her country.

“I screamed. I jumped up. I was exhausted, too, but I had just enough energy to scream,” said Ms. Chen in an interview with “The Washington Post”.

This year’s Winter Olympics will bring lots of talent and exciting moments that you will not want to miss.